Two very different habitats: chalk grasslands and mud flats on the North Wales coast

I am not managing to post to this blog very often, partly because I post more frequently to my Welsh blog, Ailddysgu, to keep up my Welsh writing. So this is is a bit of a round up of the last few weeks.

Three weeks ago when my friend Jenny was over from the States the two of us went for a walk near Tring – a circular walk, versions of which I have often done – not that it stopped us getting slightly lost and doing a different variation at one point. The land is mainly owned by the National Trust (Ashridge Estate) and is a mixture of downs, woods ( a lot of beech) and farmland. It takes in part of the ridgeway and leads up to Ivinghoe beacon. Part is a designated nature reserve, and, I think, an SSSI.

I was hoping we would see some of the kites that are there, but apart what I’m fairly sure was a fleeting glimpse of a kite, the birds of prey were a buzzard, and another bird of prey we couldn’t identify from the distance.

But the flowers were beautiful, varied and abundant – not that I am too good at knowing my flowers, though they mostly those that grow on poor chalky soil. Farmland nearbly is managed for the flowers – and the insects – and birds that follow. The birds that we saw were testimony to this system, including several yellow hammer – which I have not seen for a long time and corn bunting, which I’ve never seen before.

I would not have know what the butterflies are, and even with a guide, they are quite hard to see well enough to check their markings, but according to the board, many are apparently skippers. The prettiest was the marbled white.

Since then I have also noticed a number of small brown butterflies in our local common – which is not unimproved grassland – but does have a large chunk left ungrazed, partly again, perhaps to manage wildlife. But I will need to learn my butterflies better to know what they are (and by then they may have gone!)

The following weekend we went to Caernarfon and stayed in a B&B very near the Foryd which is now nature reserve and with its extensive mud flats on the Menai Straits, attractive to a large variety of waders and also to ducks (though more in the winter).

I was so pleased to see that there were many curlews still around – we counted around 10 one morning. I find their calls very reassuring and reminiscent of my childhood when I used to walk along the Foryd (which is also very scenic facing Anglesey in one direction and the Snowdonia mountains in the other). There were always curlews around this area and I have been saddened by their general decrease. But they seem to be holding their own in the Foryd. I have seen whimbrel in the past but didn’t notice any this time.

We went on a short nature walk as part of the Caernarfon alternative festival – Gwyl Arall, and the leaders were very knowledgeable. I had not realised (or noticed perhaps) that the medieval walls of the town, built mainly from limestone from the quarries in Penmon in Anglesey, are the sites of fossils. Another surprise was seeing a rock pippit – the second we have seen recently near old buildings near the sea – there was one near the castle in Guernsey’s St Peter Port. Another sea bird that is declining in its coastal habitat is the herring gull – and again this seems to be thriving in Caernarfon and along the coast. And, as with other parts of the UK, the little egret is also now commonly found in the area.I can’t remember the plants we saw – though we saw a number on the walk both near the beach and near the castle walls but have enclosed a photo of a couple.